


Uh Okay.

by ToxicLaughter



Series: Murlendez AUs [2]
Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, First Meetings, Follows plot lines from the first episode and the episode titled Apples, It's okay to hate me for the ending, M/M, Otherwise very canon, Soulmate AU, That tag will make sense after you finish reading, We're All Friends Here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 13:03:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14213748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicLaughter/pseuds/ToxicLaughter
Summary: Neil is apprehensive about the new resident, but he had to admit, the man proved himself, if only slightly, that first day. Not to mention Neil is pretty sure that Shaun is his soulmate.





	Uh Okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Installation number two of my Murlendez AU series, this time I went with a soulmate AU because EVERY FUCKING FANDOM NEEDS A SOULMATE AU. Also, I’ve been thinking of doing an actual chapter story of a high school Murlendez AU, if that interests you, lmk in the comments. Thx loves, please enjoy. 
> 
> P.S. I actually really like Jessica, I think she’s the only one who can see through Neil’s veil (besides Shaun) and tell him how he feels. I think they’re break-up was much needed and in my head cannons they’re BFFs and Neil just gossips to her all the time over ice cream. But she might come off as bit crazy in this story, but I think it's justified craziness. 
> 
> P.S.S Again, full disclosure, this hasn't been beta read so all spelling and grammatical errors are because I'm bad at noticing that stupid blue line Word puts under all my adjectives.

Neil remembers the first time he comprehended the words in faint gray ink on his chest. ‘Uh okay.’ At least he could rule out Shakespeare as his possible soulmate. They weren’t the most romantic or creative two words, nor were they at all rare or only used at a certain time, but they were his words. His words that his soulmate would one day utter to him. When he first met Jessica, he wasn’t even thinking about her being his soulmate and now, years later, he knows she’s not. The only time she’s ever said ‘uh okay’ to him was when he said he needed to stay late at work to miss their date night. The ‘uh okay’ had been said with a silver tongue he knows his soulmate would never have.

But he loves Jessica. He doesn’t care that she’s not his soulmate and that he’s not hers. Occasionally he’ll look in the mirror, after discussing things about his future wedding with his future bride, and just stare at his soulmark. He’s almost forty and he still hasn’t met his ‘uh okay’ and he figures he may never. Or if he does it’ll be on his deathbed.

Scratching at his words he looks around. Dr. Brown was supposed to get him that consent for that heart surgery _two hours ago_. He stops a blonde nurse and tells her to go track down Claire and let her know that he’s awaiting oh so patiently for that consent form. She smiles and nods, heading towards the on-call room.

He’s not at all surprised when she comes out of the room with a sour look on her face that only deepens when they lock eyes. “You get that consent on 104?” He asks, already knowing the answer and already planning on reprimanding her for it. She gives him the some run around about a psychologist and he shakes his head. “You did pass anatomy right, Dr. Brown? The problem’s in his heart, not his head.” They have a snappy back and forth, Claire not backing down from her position and he can respect that. He doesn’t respect her opinion, but he can level with her passion for it. He smirks when he sees Jared over Claire’s shoulder and hands the man a consent form. “Dr. Kalu? Do you think you can get me a signed informed consent on 104?” 

“Of course.” Jared says, taking the form.

“Thank you.” He turns on his heel and walks in the other direction, leaving his residents to bicker among one another.

>>>>><<<<<

He’s in the middle of surgery, sweating his ass off at the sight of an abscess when a nurse stands in the threshold of the OR and tells him about the eight-year-old who had a glass pane dropped on him. He looks to Claire, knowing full well that what he’s about to say is going to piss her off. “Claire, I don’t think we need you. The patient is going to be fine now.” He can’t see her mouth, but he can see the way her eyes narrow and her whole body stiffens. He reminds himself he’s their teacher, not their friend, and refrains from giving her any type of encouragement. _You thought you were doing the right thing, you were just trying to help, we’re all wrong sometimes_. But he doesn’t say a word and she leaves.

He does the repair surgery quickly and efficiently, leaving Kalu to close up the man’s chest so he can get to the boy in OR 3. Rewashing his hands he stares through the glass at the liquor bottle sitting on the operating table next to the kid. “What’s that?” He asks as he kneels down next to it he carefully lifts it, turning it over in his hand. 

“A one-way valve.” Claire says, peeking over his shoulder. She says something else but he’s too busy being enamored to hear it.

Neil lets out a soft laugh, impressed with whomever did said one-way valve. “That is cool.”

Dr. Brown shuffles over to the other side of the table as they begin the operation, staring off into space for a few moments before whispering out, “Do you think we should do an echocardiogram?”

He looks to the EKG. “Based on the presenting symptoms, which give no indication that an echocardiogram is necessary, I’m going to answer no. Am I missing something?”

Claire looks relieved and shakes her head. “No.”

The operation proceeds quite normally for a while. He removes the glass in the abdomen, repairs the damage, and is the process of closing him up when he notices something. “What was his heart rate five minutes ago?”

“Uh, 86.” 

“You sure?”

“Certain. He’s been a rock.”

Something feels off. He can feel it. Something bad is going to happen. It’s the abscess all over again. “No something’s changed. Something’s different.” _Something’s wrong_. He snaps his attention to Claire. “You asked earlier about an echo. You had no medical reason, but you asked anyway. Why?”

Claire’s quiet as she speaks. “There was this weird guy, the one that did the one-way valve, he kept insisting that the boy needed an echocardiogram.”

“He didn’t say why?”

“He was really weird.”

Then the boy’s blood pressure drops, _but he’s not bleeding anymore_ , and Neil doesn’t know why. He orders an echo, taking off his mask, gloves, and glasses as he does so. “Dr. Brown, you’re with me. We’re going to go find your weird guy.” She nods following him out of the OR.

>>>>><<<<<

Claire points to the guy sitting on the bench on the breezeway, his short brown hair damp and wavy from the rain. His nose is reddened from the cold and he shakes as he sits there. He’s folding up a piece of blue cloth and sticking it into his pocket when Neil is close enough to talk to him. “Why the echo?”

The kid jumps then clenches his hand around his shoulder. He’s looking right at Neil and for a second, he feels like he can’t breathe, not with those eyes staring into his. “Uh, okay.” And then he feels it. The same thing the kid must be feeling. He clutches at his chest, doing his best to disguise the motion as if he’s scratching an itch. Which, he guesses he kind of is. He never knew what it would feel like to hear those words spoken for the first time out of his soulmate’s mouth. Neil thought that maybe it would feel something like sex. But in reality, it fucking hurts.

It feels like someone is branding him right on his chest and it takes all of the strength he has to not collapse against the railings of the breezeway. The kid seems much less fazed, clawing at his shoulder but still repeating those words. “Uh, okay, uh he uh, I, uh, he okay.” And Neil is sure that’d he keep going if Claire didn’t cut him off.

“I understand that you think he needs an echocardiogram. We just don’t know why.”

The weird guy looks at Neil, he’s only looking at Neil. Claire notices. She also notices that Neil can’t stop looking at the weird guy. “Are you…okay?”

“I’m fine,” he manages to catch his breath, and takes a step towards the weird guy. “Why the echo?” He repeats himself. This time the weird guy answers.

“Well, I-I noticed that there was a slight reduction in the intensity of the electrocardiogram.”

“The electrical flow, I noticed that too.” He can’t help but smile, he’s not sure why he’s smiling. It’s like there’s a symphonic orchestra nearby performing a concerto just for him and this weird guy. He knows from books that meeting your soulmate can make you disoriented at first and most people feel the need to never leave their side. He remembers hearing a story of a pair of soulmates who drowned each other because they couldn’t force themselves to let go. “The heartrate was the same, but the amplitude dropped.”

Weird guy’s face lights up and he stands. “Pericardial effusion.”

“Reduced cardiac output.”

“Would stress other organs.”

“Causing them to shut down.”

“Yes.” Weird guy is practically shaking as he speaks and Neil can’t take his eyes off him. In the back of his mind he can hear a little voice screaming about Jessica. His fiancée. Who is a woman. And not his soulmate. Weird guy jumps when Neil’s phone rings.

He digs it out of his pocket, turning slightly away so he’s not distracted by pale skin and blue eyes. He nods. “Yeah, we’re coming right back up. Thank you.” He puts his phone away. “They did the echo. It’s normal.” He can practically feel the concern and fear flooding from the kid’s posture. “No pericardial effusion.”

“No.” He says, taking another step near Neil. “It has to be. There…there is no other explanation.”

Neil takes a step away, back towards the hospital. “The echo is normal, which means we just wasted our time.” The look of confusion at Neil’s words almost make him apologize for his harsh tone. But he’s got a job to do and he can’t be out here, dealing with this guy, worried about his ‘uh okay’. So, he walks away.

He can hear murmurings behind him but does his best to ignore them. There’s a dying boy in his OR and he still has no idea why the kid’s blood pressure was rising. He looks over his shoulder to see Claire carefully direction the kid behind her. He rolls his eyes. They don’t have time to have some nutcase in his OR, even if Neil think that the kid is his soulmate. 

They’re standing outside the actual operation room, weird guy playing with his hair. Neil sighs, approaching the glass and calling Dr. Kalu over. “Show them.”

He plays the echo for them, weird guy watching intently as each heart beat is played on the screen before him. “Again.” He says. Jared replays it. “Again.” Again. “Again.” A pause. “There!”

Jared looks at the screen and raises a brow. “It looks normal to me.”

Weird guy chuckles and Neil isn’t sure if he’s ever going to hear anyone else laugh and be happy about it again because _that_ laugh will forever be his favorite. “It’s not normal.” His finger hovers over the screen. “There’s a concave deformity in the right atrium.”

Jared looks again. “No there’s not.”

“Yes, there is,” the kid insists. “It’s very subtle.”

Neil says something before Jared can saying anything else. He feels obligated to punch the other doctor just for disagreeing with the kid, but he knows he can’t because god dammit he’s a professional. “Even if you are right, that’s not where a pericardial effusion manifests.”

Next to him, Claire speaks up. “Not usually. But it could.” And she goes off. She explains her reasoning and Dr. Melendez knows right then and there that he right about her. She’s going to be a great doctor. A great surgeon. She stands up for what she believes in, she sticks to her guns. _That’s_ what makes a good surgeon. When she finishes he takes a glance at the weird guy who is nodding his agreement in his explanation. 

Jared doesn’t agree and smacks his lips. “Lots of ‘ifs’ there.”

He looks between his two residents, then at the weird guy. The math is pretty easy. Two versus one. Three versus one. He trusts Claire and it might just be the soulmark talking, but he trusts this kid. “Dr. Chen, prepare a 14 gauge on a syringe.” He heads back into the OR, not missing the look of relief of Claire’s face and the look of triumphs on the kid’s face. He rubs his chest, the pain is almost gone, but the feelings that came with it, aren’t.

>>>>><<<<<

Neil is sitting at his desk when his brand spankin’ new resident walks in. He admits, he was a little caught off guard to learn that weird guy’s name was Shaun Murphy, the same Shaun Murphy who Dr. Glassman dotted on like a son and would soon be a member of his team. During their first surgery together, he puts the kid on suction, partly because he doesn’t trust him with a blade and partly because he knows the risks. If Shaun messes up not only does Dr. Glassman lose his job, but so does Shaun. And now that he’s gotten his hands on Dr. Shaun Murphy he doesn’t think he can let go.

“Hello Dr. Melendez.” Shaun says, walking to stand in front of Neil’s desk. Neil gives a small smile and tells him to sit. “No thanks.”

“What do you want Murphy?”

“I wanted to show you something.” Shaun awkwardly removes his white doctor’s coat and Neil instantly knows what’s going to happen. He doesn’t say anything as Shaun lifts up the short sleeve to his scrubs and shows the other doctor the dark black ink of the words, ‘Why the echo?’. He catches his breath. “Can I see yours?”

Neil swallows. “Uh, I don’t think that’s appropriate Shaun.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re my subordinate and we’re at work.” 

Shaun thinks for a second. “Oh. Okay. Can I have your home address?”

Neil almost laughs. “No, you can’t.”

“Oh. Okay.” Shaun looks around the office. “Some other time then?”

Neil knows that Shaun is right. At some point they’re going to have to discuss this. They’re going to have to sit down and talk about the words on their skin. _Jessica_. “No Shaun, no other time.” He stands from his desk. “I have a fiancée. I’m supposed to get married,” he realizes that he technically doesn’t have a date and spits out the next word. “Soon. I can’t have _this_ , I can’t have _you_ messing that up for me. Do you understand?”

Shaun nods.

“I need you to tell me that you understand.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Now get out of my office, I’ve got work to do and so do you.”

“Okay.” And Shaun leaves. And Neil feels really fucking bad about it because it’s not Shaun’s fault that Neil has his ‘uh okay’ on his skin and it’s not Shaun’s fault that Neil got engaged long before he met Shaun. But he knows that if he doesn’t shut Shaun down _now_ , Shaun will never stop bringing it up.

>>>>><<<<<

Jessica is drawing shapes on his chest after sex when she finally notices. He figures she would’ve notice sooner, maybe during their shower or perhaps during the crescendo of their love making. She sits up in the bed, her long blonde hair ticking his arm as she does so. “Your words turned black.” It’s a tell-tale sign of meeting your soulmate. He just shrugs, trying to play it off as ‘no big deal’. “It is a big deal Neil, who is it?” She sounds jealous. When he does answer she gets up from the bed. “If you’re not going to tell me I’ll just figure it out myself.”

He grabs her by the waist and tugs her back to him. “Don’t be like that, I just don’t think it matters when I know I love you. I barely know them.”

“Then you shouldn’t have to hide them from me.” She stares him down. Dammit, she’s a good ass lawyer.

“It’s Murphy.”

She jumps up from the bed. “ _Shaun_? Shaun Murphy! Oh my god,” She picks up her robe from the floor.

Neil’s out of the bed before she can make it to the bathroom. “I didn’t ask to have Shaun fucking Murphy’s word on my chest, Jessica. I already told him it’s not gonna happen. I’m marrying you. Not him.”

She’s leaning over his bathroom sink. _Not mine,_ he reminds himself, _ours_. “I know you don’t choose who you end up with.” She’s crying. He cringes, not sure how to handle this. They’ve never had to deal with something like this before. Jessica’s words, written neatly on the back of her neck, are still gray to this day. “It still hurts Neil.” He grabs her from behind and hugs her as tight as he can, whispering that he doesn’t care about Shaun, he loves her, he’s going to marry her.

Jessica doesn’t believe him, can’t look at him. So, they sit on the floor of the bathroom until early morning, Neil resting his head against the cupboards. Jessica is asleep in his arms. He looks down at her and can’t help but wish it was Shaun.

>>>>><<<<<

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, Shaun listens to Neil. About everything. He listens to Neil about their soulmarks, never bringing them up again, and he listens to him when it comes to work. When Neil tells him to be on time he does his best to get there as quickly as possible. When Neil tells him to get rest he shows up to work refreshed. So, he’s surprised when Shaun doesn’t show up to work one morning. He looks for him in the cafeteria, in Glassman’s office, and then he stops looking. Because an EMT calls and says they have his surgeon.

He’s running through the hospital towards the emergency entrance, Dr. Lim at his side. Claire and Jared coming running up behind them, Jared calm and collected. Claire the opposite. “Is he okay?”

Neil doesn’t want to think about that answer. Doesn’t want to think about the overwhelming question mark hanging over all of their heads. But he’s got a job to do. He’s always got a job to do and Shaun fucking Murphy is always getting in the way of him doing that job with a clear head. “We don’t know. This is routed through basecamp.”

“It says Shaun was there, but it didn’t say if he was hurt or not.” Jared has his phone is his hand, reading from the report emailed to all of them. Neil couldn’t get past ‘Shaun was there’ before he wanted vomit from fear. 

Lim is just as calm as Jared, detached from the situation. He knows this is a blessing. Lim will keep him straight. “Well, EMS has two critical inbounding. Their hands are a little full to chat right now.” Neil knows she right. An EMT can’t stop doing CPR to tell Neil whether or not his soulmate has been shot. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be frustrated. 

They’re outside right as the ambulances show up and Neil is slipping on his blue latex gloves as the EMTs remove the young girl on the stretcher from the vehicle to the pavement. Melendez approaches the girl, the EMT quickly doing a rundown of the girl’s injuries. He nods, telling Jared to take her inside. “I’ll meet you in there, just gotta,” he can’t finish that sentence because he knows what the next part of it will imply. He doesn’t move as Claire and Lim approach the second ambulance, doesn’t breathe as the doors open, doesn’t blink as the stretcher is removed from the back of the vehicle.

Then his nearly collapses with relief when Shaun pokes his head out. “Blunt for neck injury. Oxygen stats just dropped below 80. Trachea’s crushed. I inserted a laryngeal mask, but the airway is not secure.”

Neil’s hands are shaking. “Are you okay?” He asks. “Were you hurt?”

“His oropharyngeal anatomy is distorted from the confusion.” Neil knows that Shaun isn’t the best with emotions. Neil also knows that if Shaun is still spouting off medical jargon then he must be okay. Neil nods, mostly to himself, and runs back inside to get to his patient.

>>>>><<<<<

Neil refuses to acknowledge the rage flowing through his veins when the kid (what the fuck is his name, Neil will put it in his fucking manifesto) damn near shoves Shaun the first time. But when he hears from one of the nurses that she had to forcibly shove the kid away from Shaun when Murphy figured out the kidney failure fiasco.

He’s grumbling in his office, preparing for the girl’s surgery, when Jessica walks in. “Heard what happened today. You didn’t send Shaun home.”

“I assessed him, and he seemed perfectly capable.” 

She rolls her eyes. “Out of all the people here you should be the one advocating the most to send him home.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know.”

“Are you suggesting that my judgement is compromised because of Shaun being my soulmate?” She shrugs. “Out of all people you should know why that’s not true.” He says, parodying her earlier statement. He stands. “Move, I have a surgery to do.”

>>>>><<<<<

He sits with Shaun at the bus stop that night. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I am fine.”

“Okay, I just wanted to make sure.”

“Why do you care?” Neil didn’t expect that. 

“Because you’re my resident.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry.”

Shaun looks at him. “Why?”

“For not being the soulmate you deserve. For everything that’s happened since we met.”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

Neil can’t argue with that. It really isn’t. As far as he was concerned the morning of meeting Shaun was just like any other morning. He was still expecting to never meet his soulmate, he was still expecting to be in love with Jessica and only Jessica. Shaun was a monkey wrench in his whole life plan. He couldn’t blame himself or Shaun for that. 

“Maybe,” Neil says. “One day, when you’re an attendee making twice as much as I make, we can go get dinner. As friends.”

Shaun fiddles with his hands. “Okay. As friends.”

Neil smiles and slings his arm around the back on the bench, careful to not touch Shaun as he does so. “Cool, nice work today, _soulmate_.”

Shaun catches onto the joke. “Thank you, _soulmate_.”

He waits until Shaun’s bus comes. He waits until his bus drives away. _Friends, I could live with friends_.

**Author's Note:**

> The end! I promise the next AU will be an established relationship so you’re not just rereading the same ‘get together’ situation time after time. I’m already starting to feel myself repeat plot point and shit like that. Also, two stories in less than 24 hours?!?! Is it because I’m trash? Yes. The answer is yes.


End file.
